Why are designers so strange?

I watched about 7 of the Thirty Conversations on Design series and I must say that I saw quite a few odd birds in the mix. As I was watching, I had this strong question keep popping up in my brain. Why are all of these designers so strange?

Chip Kidd described himself as a narcissist, and after hearing what he had to say within the short 2:25 clip, I would have to agree. But he did make some interesting, for the lack of a better word, points. He said graphic designers simply don’t get credit for what they do, so they result to drinking after acknowledging and feeding into their anonymity. But if they are more recognized for their work, they will still drink, it will just be a much higher quality liquor because they will be getting paid better. Seriously? That’s kind of messed up. As an aspiring designer, do I need to go through that kind of process of grotesque narcissism and unnecessary drinking rampages? I certainly hope not.

He is inspired by his monthly mortgage payment and the ability to spy on people from his office that overlooks the Hudson River in NYC. I do believe that designers can be and should be inspired by anything and everything.

Then I watched the seemingly disarrayed Ellen Lupton’s “Words” conversation. Her conversation seemed to be almost poetic. She has some seriously crazy hair, dull glasses, and some kind of monotone lulled out voice. Lupton describes the perfection of the book and how it is changing to fit the needs of today’s connected society. She shows the camera a book that she has kept since college. She likes to revisit it as “a piece of frozen memory.” She says it is perfect. Then she shows her Kindle, which she says is not a perfect object, but it is about connecting to a system that allows you to carry your library in your backpack.

She then says both of them are books and they are alive. She ponders what will we design next? And I am curious of that as well… It seems like what really is there left to create anew?